For every policy we create to protect the vulnerable, it seems like someone is always waiting to exploit it to their advantage. But we’ve never heard of a situation quite like the one in California.

It seems that two homeowners are fighting to move into the home they own, but the previous owner just won’t leave.

He’s exploiting a policy made to protect people from being evicted to live rent-free in a home he sold and promised to leave before the pandemic even began.

A sudden refusal

If you’ve ever purchased a home, you know it’s a lot more complicated than you’d ever expect. There’s lots of paperwork and inspections and bank negotiations. Sometimes you get unpleasant surprises in the middle of the process and have to start all over again.

But it’s rare to get a surprise at the end of escrow when the seller suddenly refuses to hand over the keys.

However, that’s precisely what happened to Tracie and Myles Albert after they purchased their four-bedroom house in Riverside, California. They should have been unlocking the door to their future on January 31, 2020.

But instead, they were trying to pry the door open and being blocked by the man who had sold it – after he cashed the check.

A quick sale gone wrong

One year later, the couple was still in limbo.

“It’s just draining, emotionally and financially,” Tracie Albert told Fox 11 News.

Real estate agent Chris Taylor sold them the house last year from a man who was eager to get it off his hands. In fact, he needed $560,000 from the sale in 2 weeks, which means he needed a cash buyer for the home.

Given real estate prices in California, the Alberts felt like it was a good deal and managed to liquidate enough savings and credit to make it happen.

“It took us scrambling to get everything we had, our life savings put together and a hard money loan on top of it to make that happen,” Myles said.

An initial hiccup

During escrow the Alberts’ discovered that there was a $30,000 tax lien on the house. That slowed down the process a bit, but now they think perhaps it was a sign.

Then again, no one could have predicted what was to come.

In the end, everyone signed on the dotted line, and the sale was approved. The owner has the money and they have the deed.

But they don’t have the right to enter the home.

The former owner becomes a squatter

The owner – who hasn’t been named in the press – still hasn’t turned over the keys or left the home. It’s unclear why he couldn’t be forcibly removed prior to California’s state-mandated coronavirus lockdowns and the moratorium on evictions. But once those were in place, the Alberts had a whole new situation on their hands.

Now the man CAN’T be removed from the home. They’ve pounded on the door and begged him to leave with no luck.

“We own the house, outright. That’s our house and it’s all in a contract, written, legal, done. He’s been paid the money in his account. How could we have no rights to go into our home,” Myles told Fox 11.

One YEAR later, they are still locked out. And California governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill extending the state’s eviction moratorium through June 30, 2021.

The Alberts and their real estate agent have done everything they can to get him removed from the property, but authorities have told them they simply can’t throw anyone out of a home during the moratorium. It doesn’t seem to matter that he started squatting in the house prior to the epidemic.

“They have this case under a COVID tenant situation, of no evictions when it doesn’t fall under that at all. This transaction went through in January 2020 before any of that, it isn’t a renter who was getting thrown out. It’s the guy who collected all of this money,” Myles Albert said in a statement.

Protecting people from homelessness

Of course, the policy was meant to protect people from being thrown out onto the streets during a pandemic in cases where they had lost their jobs unexpectedly. Without it, the country would have a disaster of epic proportions on its hands.

But a handful of people have taken this as an opportunity to squat in sold houses rent and utility-free for the last year.

Eviction Attorney Dennis Block told Fox 11 News that “This year alone, we’ve handled at least 7 maybe 8 cases of this exact type of situation.”

It’s almost unbelievable. And it’s still unclear why no one was able to force him out the very day he started squatting. The Alberts filed an unlawful detainer, but it isn’t being processed because of the pandemic. The news source did not say when they filed it.

Sadly, the couple is now paying for a house they can’t live in. And because the man refuses to come out, the outside of the home is deteriorating.

“I tried watering the lawn one time and he came out and ripped my sprinkler lines, ripped all the wires. The Palm trees are dying, everything was beautiful and everything is dying,” Tracie Albert said.

As far as we can tell, this issue still hasn’t been resolved.

Be sure to scroll down below for more on the unbelievable situation.

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Source: Business Insider, YouTube – Inside Edition, YouTube – Fox 11 Los Angeles, FOX 11 News LA